Time, quantum mechanics, and tense

The relational approach to tense holds that “the now”, “passage”, and “becoming” are to be understood in terms of relations between events. The debate over the adequacy of this framework is illustrated by a comparative study of the sense in which physical theories, (in)deterministic and (non)relativistic, can lend expression to the metaphysics at issue. The objective is not to settle the matter, but to clarify the nature of this metaphysics and to establish that the same issues are at stake in the relational approach to value-definiteness and probability in quantum mechanics. They concern the existence of a unique present, respectively actuality, and a notion of identity over time that cannot be paraphrased in terms of relations.

[1]  Kurt Gödel,et al.  A remark about the relationship between relativity theory and idealistic philosophy , 2006 .

[2]  P. Laplace.  Théorie analytique des probabilités , 1995 .

[3]  E. B. Davies.  Quantum theory of open systems , 1976 .

[4]  C. W. Rietdijk.  A Rigorous Proof of Determinism Derived from the Special Theory of Relativity , 1966, Philosophy of Science.

[5]  Simon Saunders,et al.  Time, quantum mechanics, and decoherence , 1995, Synthese.

[6]  Tim Maudlin,et al.  Quantum non-locality and relativity , 1994 .

[7]  P. Kroes.  Objective versus minddependent theories of time flow , 1984, Synthese.

[8]  Pearle,et al.  Combining stochastic dynamical state-vector reduction with spontaneous localization. , 1989, Physical review. A, General physics.

[9]  M. Dummett.  A Defense of McTaggart's Proof of the Unreality of Time , 1960 .

[10]  Arthur Eddington,et al.  Space, Time and Gravitation , 1922 .

[11]  A. Einstein.  Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper , 1905 .

[12]  A. Ashtekar,et al.  Conceptual problems of quantum gravity , 1991 .

[13]  Michael Lockwood,et al.  Mind, Brain And The Quantum , 1989 .

[14]  Der Kampf um das Kausalgesetz in der jüngsten Physik , 1929 .

[15]  B. Russell.  The Principles of Mathematics , 1938 .

[16]  Hans J. Morgenthau,et al.  An intellectual autobiography , 1978 .

[17]  H. Stein.  On Einstein--Minkowski Space--Time , 1968 .

[18]  Storrs McCall,et al.  Objective Time Flow , 1976, Philosophy of Science.

[19]  Nicholas Maxwell.  On relativity theory and openness of the future: a reply , 1991 .

[20]  D. Davidson.  Essays on actions and events , 1980 .

[21]  Michael Lockwood,et al.  'Many Minds' Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics , 1996 .

[22]  G. C. McVittie,et al.  The Natural Philosophy of Time , 1963 .

[23]  H. Putnam.  Mathematics, Matter and Method: Time and physical geometry , 1967 .

[24]  Mark Hogarth,et al.  The definability of objective becoming in Minkowski spacetime , 1995, Synthese.

[25]  Nicholas Maxwell,et al.  Are Probabilism and Special Relativity Compatible? , 1985, Philosophy of Science.

[26]  H. Weyl,et al.  Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science , 1950 .

[27]  P. Pearle,et al.  Toward a Relativistic Theory of Statevector Reduction , 1990 .

[28]  H. BONDI.  Relativity and Indeterminacy , 1952, Nature.

[29]  Adolf Grünbaum,et al.  Philosophical Problems of Space and Time , 1965 .

[30]  H. Everett.  "Relative State" Formulation of Quantum Mechanics , 1957 .

[31]  Barry Loewer,et al.  Interpreting the many worlds interpretation , 1988, Synthese.

[32]  Hans Reinchenbach.  The Causal Structure of the World and the Difference between Past and Future , 1978 .